


Anemone

by AvatarMi_Chan



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Creepy, Dipper and Ford live in space, Fluff, I don't have an answer for that question, M/M, Psychological Horror, Short Story, Space AU, What is going on?, Why?, but I can't spoil anything..., can this even qualify as horror?, it is just creepy, no one will ever know, the summary is so vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 07:43:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6745387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarMi_Chan/pseuds/AvatarMi_Chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Ford come across one of the largest abandoned ships they have ever seen in the two years they have been in space. Dipper goes inside to investigate and encounters many strange and impossible things began to happen - all of which seem to be connected to a strange entity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anemone

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was heavily influenced by the animated movie Memories, specifically episode one, Magnetic Rose. If you haven't seen it, you should consider giving it a try.  
> If you want to set the mood, listen to either Empty Buildings Everywhere or White Phosphorous Angles by WorryTrain.  
> Good luck in there, reader.

_There is something beautiful in the unknown. In the unimaginable._

_In gazing up at the night sky, what does one see?_

_That vast void which unfurls tentatively just beyond the horizon, extending infinitely and marked with stars. There are many worlds and therefore many skies, but each are connected - each are bound in an endless stream of existence which spans out across space and time. An infinite number of dimensions, an infinite number of possibilities. I cannot help but wonder if, beneath one of those skies, another me lives. I can’t help but wonder if they see the same sky as I do, the same emptiness, and the same glow from the same stars burning at distances beyond comprehension…_

“Dipper!” A shout rose up from somewhere beyond the small confines of the brunette’s room. The boy in question sighed, lowering his pen and running a hand through his mess of chocolate locks.

“So much for that.” He sighed, eyeing the half marked page he had just been working on. His eyes travelled upward, landing on the small framed photo sitting upon his desk – a picture of he, his twin sister, and some of his other friends from back on Earth. As always, the photo sent a small jolt of nostalgia through his spine.

He missed her.

Another sigh and he closed the notebook, stretching his arms lazily overhead before getting to his feet. His room wasn’t very large – consisting of only a bed tucked against the far wall and a desk placed snuggly beside it. As for personal items, well, every bare surface was covered with books and used notebooks filled with whatever miscellaneous thoughts Dipper had felt over the last two years he’d been in space.

Journals - his Great Uncle Ford had said, handing him one such notebook bound in plain blue – to write your thoughts in, to help keep you sane.

“Dipper!” Ford called again, jolting the brunette from his thoughts.

“Coming!” He called, giving the photo of his family one final glance before leaving the small confines of his room and heading towards the central control area.

The transition to living in space had been a hard one. There was a certain…heaviness that always seemed to hang in the air, the sort of feeling that came with the knowledge that one was completely and utterly alone.

Of course, he had his uncle, but being one of two was quite different from being one of billions.

“Yeah Grunkle Ford?” He asked, entering the largest room in the entire ship. It didn’t seem like it, at first glance – it appeared to be maybe only a little bit larger than the average room.

That is, until you looked up.

A wall of blinking lights extended upward in a visage not at all unlike that of a towering skyscraper. Small outcroppings jutted out occasionally from the otherwise seamless face – islands used for stability and direction in the otherwise weightless zero-gravity environment.

“Up here!” Ford’s voice called out amidst the whirring hum of machinery and the distant murmur of a radio from somewhere far up above.

“Yeah Ford, that really helps clear up the confusion!” Dipper called back, and snorted when a bunched up piece of paper was sent flying from a little ways up – hitting the opposite wall before lazily floating without direction.

“Okay, be up in a sec!” He responded, earning a grunt from the older man. Pressing a button on his watch he deactivated his zero gravity shoes – a handy object of his great uncle’s own creation – and was immediately buoyed upward. Even after all this time he was still left breathless by the sudden lack of weight upon his body. It was like being at the top of the first drop on a rollercoaster – arms raised in breathless anticipation before you were suddenly dropping even as your whole body felt as if it were being carried away and lifted upward in a tug of airy lethargy that had the whole world spinning.

Still, his recovery time had vastly improved – and Dipper quickly righted himself and maneuvered between the outcroppings up to his waiting Uncle.

“Alright, what is it this time?” Dipper joked, floating over the edge and flicking on his boots to reattach himself to solid ground. The older man was sitting across from a monitor surrounded by bobbing pieces of paper, empty packets of instant coffee, and books. Dipper carefully maneuvered through the disaster zone, easily bumping away the weightless items as he drew closer his clearly aggravated relative. Ford looked up as Dipper neared, a wide smile forming on his lips in spite of the dark circles under his eyes.

“Dipper my boy, I believe we have found something!” Ford said proudly, gesturing at the black screen.

“Hmm?” Dipper hummed, leaning forward and peering into the darkness of space. Sure enough, through all the emptiness and starlight there was something…other. Something different.

Something foreign.

“Is that…?” Dipper started, turning to look at his still beaming uncle, who raised his glass of coffee to his lips.

“That is a junk ship.” Ford said before taking a long, content drink. Dipper, brown eyes widening, mirrored his uncle’s grin.

“No way! What are the stats on it?” He turned back to the screen, though at this distance he couldn’t make out much. Ford chuckled at his grandson’s excitement, leaning back to the console and pulling up various other screens – one of which contained a scan of the ships layout.

“It’s one of the largest we’ve ever encountered! And my readings show there is currently no organic life on board, poor bastards.” He shook his head, momentarily solemn before returning to his previous grin.

“We’ll be close enough to make contact in less than half an hour! So how about you go over the information while I go get ready to board…”

Dipper cut his uncle off, shaking his head.

“No way. I’ll board this time.” He stated. Ford looked momentarily taken aback, before quickly turning serious.

“Dipper, this one is too big for me to send you in alone. It could be dangerous – more dangerous than any other ship we’ve encountered.”

“Which is exactly why I should go instead of you. When was the last time you got some sleep, Great Uncle Ford? Two, three days ago? You know as well as I do that for this one we will need to be at the top of our game. Which you are not.” Dipper raised an eyebrow at his uncle, daring him to argue.

“But…but…” Ford trailed. He couldn’t argue with Dipper’s logic – the boy had learned long ago that when dealing with Ford the best way to overcome the man’s stubbornness was by giving him an argument he couldn’t refute.

Which Dipper just had.

“I’ll be fine. There are no organic lifeforms on board, right? It’ll be easy, just a little more complicated than the usual.” The brunette continued, and he could see the look of defeat pass over his Uncle’s face as he accepted his grand Nephew’s words.

“Alright.” He said, and Dipper couldn’t help the small jolt of excitement at the prospect of his next grand adventure. Turning back to the images of the ship his eyes flitted over the large, oddly circular form, skin prickling in anticipation.

There is something beautiful in the unknown. Which is probably why Dipper found everything out here - within the endless folds of this vast oblivion - so fascinating.

After all, in space there was nothing but the unknown.

***********************

“Are you ready?” Ford asked, giving the latch locked to Dipper’s side a firm tug to ensure its security. Dipper nodded at him through the thick glass of his visor, giving a thumbs up and a grin.

He was more than ready.

Ford nodded, offering a small smile of his own as he gave Dipper’s shoulders a firm squeeze, dark eyes searching his grand nephew’s face.

“Alright.” He murmured, grip tightening once more before letting go. “Just be careful, okay?”

Dipper gave another thumbs up, this time responding in hopes of calming his Great Uncle’s nerves.

“I will. See you in a few hours!”

Ford turned away, giving his grandnephew one final look before the doors shut and Dipper was left alone. Turning, the brunette watched the airlock part to reveal the outside of the foreign ship. It was massive, a mammoth of a structure the size of a large asteroid. Astronomical, and brilliant in the empty depths.

Dipper’s breath hitched in his throat as his floating body passed beyond the ledge of the ship and he was suspended over the abysmal nothingness. It was strange, looking down and seeing absolutely nothing there – like floating at the center of a lake, unable to see the bottom through the murky depths. His heart thudded wildly in his chest, though whether it was more from fear or excitement he couldn’t tell.

Reaching out his hands closed around the maneuvering gear for his jet pack in a white knuckled grip – desperately clinging to the solid feeling as he slowly pressed forward towards the ships front. In what felt like an eternity but was likely only a couple of minutes Dipper hit the front of the ship and scaled the side for some sort of opening.

“You okay?” Ford’s voice sounded loudly within his helmet, clearly worried. Dipper smiled.

“Yes, I’m okay. Geez Ford, you could at least wait until I got inside before freaking out.” He chuckled.

“Speak for yourself. If you got hurt, your sister would probably kill me.” Ford responded, and it seemed he had calmed down a bit.

“So where is the entrance to this thing? Dipper asked, continuing to move around the side.

“Just keep going the way you’re going. There is a docking outlet that you can cut through.”

“Okay, I think I see it.” There was a large line in the side of the ship – the clear sign of a door. Keeping one hand controlling his pack so that he could hover in place Dipper used his other to reach down to his tool belt to pull out a small, white cylinder. After twisting a couple knobs he pressed one end – immediately causing a bright red line of light from the other. The high intensity laser made quick work of the steel, cutting through the ship's exterior hull in a rectangle just big enough for Dipper to fit through.

Tucking the laser back into his tool belt Dipper gave the hunk of metal a nudge, revealing the shadowy interior.

“Alright, I’m in.” Dipper said, and his great uncle made a sound of approval.

Squeezing through the crack Dipper floated into the pitch darkness. The lights on his helmet did little to cut through the almost physical wall of black. He could barely make out hide nor hair as he just continued to press forward.

“Right about now some direction would be good.” Dipper stated.

“Okay, yes, there should be a doorway into the rest of the hip if you keep moving forward.”

“Wow Ford. Thanks. That was real enlightening.” Dipper joked, and he smiled as Ford chuckled in response.

“Hey, sometimes even geniuses need a break.” Finally he found the opposite wall, a relieved sigh passing his lips as his eyes settled on the large set of doors outlined in bright yellow which were his ticket to getting inside.

“You better be glad Grunkle Stan isn’t here to hear you say that. He would never let you hear the end of it.” He activated his gravity boots once he was by the door – his body hitting the ground with an echoing peal of metal against metal.

“Yeah…” Ford trailed, and Dipper could almost hear the unspoken words in the resounding silence after that statement.

…I wish he were.

To which Dipper mentally responded with: Me too…

Swallowing his emotions Dipper turned his focus back to the door, ready to begin his exploration.

“Wow. Ford, are you seeing this?” Dipper asked, running his hand over the blank screen and series of buttons surrounding the door. It was old tech, older than even his Great Uncle. And that was saying something.

“Yeah. Looks like this thing has been lost in space for a while.”

“Still think it’s worth checking out?” Dipper asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yes. This is a great opportunity to discover some lost tech, maybe some new parts. Who knows?”

Dipper hummed in response, pulling out his laser cutter once again. He braced himself against the wall, ready to slice off the doors, when suddenly there was a strange flicker at the corner of his vision.

“Did you see that?” Dipper paused - ignoring Ford’s reminder about the fact that he was viewing everything from a camera atop the boy’s head, of course he didn’t see anything – and turned towards the movement. Pale blue lights had begun to glow around his hand.

Just then a pair of bright lights over the door burst to life in a moment of blinding brilliance that had Dipper unconsciously stumbling backward.

There was the strained sound of air movement, as if the entire ship were breathing out in a long sigh, and suddenly Dipper was facing a small chamber illuminated by an eerie blue glow.

The airlock.

“What did you say about this ship being dead?” Dipper asked, but was met with only silence. “Ford, you there?” He asked again, a slight flash of fear making his voice crack slightly.

“Yeah, I’m here. The ships system must have gone into a temporary sleep to conserve power and you accidentally reactivated it.” His uncle responded, and Dipper turned to look into the airlock.

A slight shiver of foreboding ran down his spine, and he began to lose his excitement at the idea of exploring this ancient skeleton of a craft.

Still, Dipper Pines was not one to back down in the face of adversity – especially when in the face of a something just begging to be discovered.

Like an ancient ship floating in the middle of space.

“I guess that just makes my job easier.” He stated, removing the tether from around his waist and hooking it to the railing just outside of the dully glowing room before stepping inside. He pressed a red button on the other side, and the door proceeded to slide shut behind him, followed by a hum as the pressure in the room began to shift, and then another click s the door opposite the way he had entered slid open.

And after two years of traveling to space, Dipper Pines had seen a lot of things. He and Ford had scavenged ships from all over the universe. At some point, he began to notice that the ships they visited weren’t really all that different.

At some point, he was able to conceptualize what he would see before he even laid eyes on the ship's interior.

But what he saw on the other side was far beyond anything the brunette could have ever imagined.

“Holy shit…” He breathed, stepping into the warm golden glow reminiscent of sunlight. Before him extended a long hallway of such resplendence and overwhelming decadence it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The floor was made of a polished mahogany that gleamed in the glow of the several massive crystal chandeliers which dotted the ceiling at even intervals. The walls on either side were lined with life like golden statues in various poses, raising their arms and gilded faces upward as if in prayer. Between them were…windows, it seemed. Massive floor to ceiling windows lined in gold and colorful tile and painted murals that flowed upward seamlessly to form massive images on the ceiling.

“Holy shit…” Ford echoed, as shocked and disbelieving as Dipper. The brunette took a timid step forward, then another, and another. His footsteps echoed all around him, tapping out a tune to the pounding of his heart. It was…breathtaking to say the least.

Terrifying.

The whole place had a feeling of life to it, something that the various other abandoned ships had entered didn’t. The very nature of space prevented most things from deteriorating like they would on look – giving inanimate objects an almost timeless feel.

But this place, it was ethereal, and that fact was only furthered by how utterly and unabashedly out of place it was.

Dipper spun, pulling out a small handgun from its holster and pointing it in front of him – and found himself staring at his own reflection.

“They’re not windows…” he muttered, stepping forward to stare at the silvery squares which perfectly reflected the room back at him.

“I don’t like this.” Ford said through his speaker, and Dipper couldn’t honestly say he didn’t agree.

He also couldn’t honestly say he didn’t.

“I’m going to keep going.” He stated, turning away and moving down the long, eerie hallway.

“Dipper, I don’t think this is a good idea…” his uncle trailed, and Dipper sighed.

“I know, but I’m already here so I might as well have a look around.” He didn’t say how he felt curious about this beautiful and mysterious place. About what it was. About why it was. What was the purpose of its creation?

Why was it abandoned?

He wanted to know, wanted to know more badly than he had ever wanted anything else. Wanted to know so badly it frightened him.

Not far down the hallway branched off to the right and left. Dipper chose to turn right, and was greeted with a similar hallway with its auric light, its sumptuous furnishings, and its nearly endless length.

“It just seems like it goes on forever.” Dipper commented, and Fordhummed.

“It’s a large ship.”The pair continued on in silence for awhile, until Dipper spotted a change.

There, against the left wall, the re was something different. It looked like… the outdoors. Dipper stepped closer, and realized that what he was looking at was only the reflection of the mirror behind him, though it hadn’t seemed to be only moment before.

It all looked so real.

The azure sky spotted with fat white clouds, the gravel strewn earth, the walls of flowering hedges rising up in a colorful array of vibrant reds and pinks and purples.

But it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be real because Dipper wasn’t on earth.

He wasn’t on a planet at all.

His gaze settled on a single figure standing amongst the picturesque scene. Average, really – perhaps a bit on the tall side. Their pale golden locks lifted in a nonexistent wind, glinting like sunlight off of rippling water.

The sight made Dipper’s breath catch, an unfamiliar weight settling heavily in his chest. All thoughts of the impossibility of this situation vanished from his mind as the world seemed to focus in on that person as they began to turn.

Slowly.

Dipper opened his mouth, his lips trying to form words his brain did not know. His lips quivered, and he felt frustrated tears sting his eyes. He wanted to call to that person, wanted to, wanted to…

He could almost make out the definition of their chin, the sharp ridges of their cheek bones and the ever so slight ghost of a smile at the corner of their lips.

And just like that, the image was gone, and Dipper was left looking at his own reflection.

Whatever spell he had been under suddenly broke, and the brunette was stumbling backward, breathe coming in quick gasps.

“F, Ford? Did you see that?” He stuttered out, shaking slightly.

“See what? Dipper is everything alright?”

How could he possibly not have seen that? Could Dipper have just been imagining things?

Taking a deep breath, Dipper took a moment to calm his nerves and gather his thoughts. It wasn’t unusual to see things when you were alone in the depths of space after all. Your mind had a funny habit of playing tricks on you – your subconscious seeping into reality in the form of sights and sounds. And though there was no denying the fact that what Dipper had seen was more realistic than he was accustomed to with these sorts of visions, he had no other logical explanation.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He responded, his voice more even this time as his eyes swiveled to the empty wall and his reflection staring back at him. “I’m fine.”

He continued walking down the seemingly endless hallway, allowing his mind to wander away from that odd place and to things more comforting and familiar.

The thing he missed the most about earth was the colors. The azure expanse of the sky, stretching outward to meet the contrasting dark line of the horizon. He wanted to watch the sunset again – sitting atop the rooftop with his twin at his side, back scratching against the well-worn shingles. He missed the scent of it: of people, of weather – an infinite mix of things all coming together to create something knew, something he’d so easily taken for granted. He missed the trees, missed the feeling of soft earth beneath his shoes, missed his sister’s colorful sweaters, missed her smile.

He missed his family.

And when he thought back to those times, he remembered everything in vivid shades, his memories colored in contrast the current monochrome of his existence. He saw his Great Uncle Stan as a fiery red, always burning. He saw his friends: Wendy, his old crush in a vibrant yellow, Soos as a muted and earthy green.

And Mable. He thought of Mable the most. She was a rainbow, a cacophony of light and sound that drowned out everything else. Even within his mind she was a source of comfort to him, and Dipper clung to thoughts of their time together as if they were the very thing attaching him to that reality.

Of course, he would call her often, but it wasn’t the same as being there with her. They would talk for hours, and then the twins would fall asleep to dark screens, imagining within the darkness that the other was in fact there beside them.

It wouldn’t be long until he would see her again. And when he did, he’d give her a hug that could match one of her own. But until then, he would keep exploring. Keep learning. Keep searching.

“Di….er.”

His Great Uncle’s voice brought him back from his thoughts, broken and distorted, as if coming through a thick wall of glass.

“Ford?” Dipper responded, stopping in his tracks.

“..er. D…” The sounds came to an abrupt stop, leaving Dipper in silence. The brunette immediately stopped in his tracks.

“Ford? Ford?” He shouted, voice rising as he was hit with a sudden wave of hysteria. It wasn’t often that their communication system got interrupted, but it had happened before. Still, being off from the only other living thing within miles was reason to worry. Especially considering how far Dipper had come, and the fact that he would now have to turn around until he was able to make contact with his Great Uncle again. “Damn it.” He groaned.

Well, there was no helping it.

He spun to head back and was met with a dead end.

“Wha…?” The words slipped past his lips in a breathy gasp – he felt like he’d just been punched in the gut.

Because where there had been a hallway moments before, there was a very real, very solid wall.

It was similar to what he had seen of this strange place so far – richly painted, with an oaken end table sitting before it which was home to an enormous vase of flowers.

“This… this can’t be real.” He turned to glance behind him, and was met with the same hallway he’d been walking towards just moments before. He turned back and there was the wall. Stepping forward, he timidly reached out, pausing briefly before placing his fingers timidly against the wood.

He was met with something solid.

It was there.

“Holy fuck.” Dipper breathed, applying more force against the table, his fears leaving him as it began to dawn on him that it was just a table. A table that shouldn’t be there, but was. As he began to calm down he turned his attention to the vase – a rather plain, light blue thing that ended in a bouquet of pale white blooms. They were beautiful, with their soft, wide petals bound by bright yellow centers that resembled a brilliant sun at the center of a milky galaxy.

“Anemone.” He breathed the word, and it felt familiar on his lips though he could swear he’d never seen these flowers before, let alone knew their name.

His eyes continued upward, past the burst of color, to the golden frame of a portrait.

How he knew it was a portrait, he could not say.

But he knew, and that thought settled within him like an undeniable truth – bringing with it a tugging urge to see. See what he felt he knew, see what he felt he had forgotten.

And impossible feeling bubbled up within him, utterly indescribable and foreign and paired with a desire that consumed him despite the utter abstractness of this impossible situation.

He reached outward to push the flowers away, to see the face he could almost make out in his mind’s eye, so familiar and yet as featureless and void and beyond comprehension as space.

His hands closed around the blossoms, their bright faces providing no resistance as they proceeded to immediately crumble to dust. And behind them was not the portrait he had been expecting, but instead another mirror, showing him his own image – his cheeks tear soaked and his brown eyes blown wide.

“Why… am I crying?” He stammered, blinking away tears.

“Dipper, Dipper, are you there?”

The brunette blinked, and suddenly the wall was gone, and he was once again facing the same hallway he’d been walking down since he’d entered this strange place.

“I…I…” His words fell past his lips, messy and broken.

“Are you alright? What happened? You suddenly started breaking up.” Ford asked, the worry obvious in his voice. Dipper swallowed, trying to calm his nerves. He felt like he were balancing on a tight rope which had been drawn too tight and threatened to snap any moment.

He had two choices.

He could turn back. He and Ford could leave and forget about this strange ship, could go home.

Back to color, back to earth and sky and family.

Back to Mable.

Or…Dipper could search just a little longer.

Just a little farther.

He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. Was he just seeing things? Was any of this even real?

A million questions swirled through his mind, mixing with his natural fear of the unknown and his childish curiosity. What’s more, there was something else - the echo of something precious, something buried.

Something calling to him from far away.

“Ford…were you able to see anything just now?” He asked softly, and for a moment he wondered if the line had gone dead as his Great Uncle did not reply.

“Dipper, I’m thinking it might be best if you come back. I can go out instead, we can…”

“No.” Dipper cut the older man off, the statement coming out harsher than he’d intended. “No, it’s fine. I’ll continue. I’m fine.”

“Alright, but if we don’t come across anything soon, I’m going to call this whole thing off.” Ford said sternly, and Dipper hummed in agreement.

Just a little longer.

He would just keep searching a little longer.

*****************

Thankfully it didn’t take long for Dipper to come across a door in the wall – a break in the line of windows that just seemed to go on and on.

“Finally.” Dipper sighed in relief, hand closing around the knob. “I was beginning to doubt this hallway had an end.

“Everything has an end Dipper, though I must admit I was beginning to grow worried myself.” Ford responded. “After this room I want you to come back. This is taking far too much time – it won’t be worth whatever we can get out of this place.”

“Agreed.” He responded easily, though he felt his stomach twist at the idea of leaving just yet. Still, maybe whatever was behind this door could answer his questions.

Or maybe he really was going insane.

His hand closed around the doorknob and he stepped inside.

Dipper was in a room. A room that was jarringly different from where he had been before. It was smaller, emptier.

In fact, it was completely empty – just four white walls and a similar floor and ceiling.

“What the hell?” Dipper stammered, backing away.

“Dipper, get out of there.” Ford grit, not that Dipper needed to be told to do so. He was already turning back towards the door, which had clicked shut behind him in his earlier shock. Just as he was about to grab the knob there was a sudden shift in the light - a shadow falling across the doorframe.

A shadow cast from an empty room.

His heart stopped.

“Someone’s there Ford.” He breathed, but there was only silence in response.

Gritting his teeth, Dipper carefully reached down to close his hands around his gun.

“Ford?” He asked again, and still there was no reply. He pulled his gun out, his hands shaking from the adrenaline spiking through his veins. Still, he couldn’t turn – he didn’t dare to. He was terrified – utterly frozen from the fear that clogged his throat and seeped through his veins like ice water.

Shit, shit, shit.

Dipper spun, holding the gun out desperately before him.

The first thing that struck him was the sound. The murmur of a crowed of voices, the clink of glasses. Even music, soft and light and oh so familiar. His gaze drifted over the sea of bodies, men dressed in suites, woman in a rainbow of dresses. They shifted and swayed like a single entity even as they were each distinct.

They were also all wearing masks.

A beautiful red head, her flaming hair a backdrop to a lupine face, laughing at something being spoken by a dark haired teen. A pair of children wearing matching deer masks weaving through the dancers – giggling as they ran past Dipper only to move his attention towards a single still figure against the backdrop of movement.

But there was more than that. There was something more than that. He just didn’t know what.

The figure resembled the one Dipper had seen previously – with a tall, slim figure and a crown of flaxen curls. And like every other person in the room he too was sporting a mask. Only, it was different. Rather than resembling any sort of animal, his mask was simply a flat, featureless expense of gold marked only by a thin ‘u’ just below his forehead with four slashes above and four below. It was rather alarming, except for some reason Dipper’s fear seemed muted and far away. Instead he watched on, completely transfixed as the figure leisurely moved towards him.

A hand reached out, gloved in white, and gently wrapped around his own – guiding him to lower his gun. Dipper didn’t resist. He couldn’t. His mind was blank, just white noise and the person before him coming ever nearer, free hand lifting and gently caressing the side of Dipper’s helmet. His breath caught, his heart was beating a mile a minute, and the entire world seemed to pause…

And then the line on the mask opened to reveal a single, luminous eye.

Dipper’s shout wrung out through the sudden, deafening silence, and he realized that suddenly everything was gone and he was in fact standing in an empty ballroom.

Just like the one from before. Only completely, and totally void of life but for Dipper himself.

The brunette quickly turned and left, shutting the door behind him and turning to his right to head back the way he’d come.

That was the last straw. Dipper was finished.

“Ford, come in Ford. Can you hear me?” He shouted, but received only second’s worth of garbled gibberish before the line went blank.

It seemed Dipper would have to get out of here himself.

He ran down the long, empty hallway, accompanied only by the resounding tap of his footsteps, his own heavy breathing, and the infinite reflections of himself jogging along on either side. Each intake of air became more difficult, his limbs beginning to ache from the lack of oxygen. How long had he been running? Minutes? Hours?

Did the hallway even have an end?

Dipper trailed to a stop, leaning against one of the walls and attempting to catch his breath.

“Ford. Ford. Come in god damn it.” Dipper shouted, though it came out more as a crackly groan.

His efforts at making contact were only met with more silence, which settled heavily around him as his heartbreak began to slow and his breathing to even out.

“Damn it.” Dipper hissed, gritting his teeth in frustration. “Damnit!” He spun, slamming his fist into the silvery glass of one of the windows. It splintered beneath his hit, web-like lines creeping outward. Dipper pulled his hand away, looking at the broken glass as hope bubbled up in his chest. Maybe this was his ticket to getting out of this hell.

Without another thought he proceeded to slam into the window, ignoring the flash of pain each time his limb made contact.

He had to get out.

He had to.

With one final swing the glass shattered in a burst of crystalline fragments and the shrill hum of tinkling shards as they hit the tile in a rainbow of auric color. Dipper found himself momentarily blinded by an intense flash of light – closing his eyes and turning away as his suite was pelted with small bits of mirror.

When he opened his eyes he found himself once again faced with the impossible: beyond the hallway lie a pure white abyss.

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t breath as he attempted to reconcile his dying hope with the sight of the achromatic void before him.

“No…” he whimpered, feeling his knees shake. “This… why?” He hit the ground with a thud, shaking his head in disbelief as he stared at the vast nothingness.

“Why?”

He shouldn’t have come here.

He’d let his thirst for answers get in the way of his logic, and now he was trapped in…wherever this was.

No hope.

No nothing.

Just endless chasm of ivory and a hallway without end.

And his own mind.

It was then that Dipper heard it, a gentle caress of sound from within that infinite snowy bleakness. It sounded like singing – a gentle hum that wrapped around him and eased the terror that had been threatening to overwhelm him.

His body lifted, as if pulled by invisible threads. He wasn’t certain why he was moving. He wasn’t certain of anything anymore. He was just so tired. So empty. He wanted to be in the darkness and the quite of the night, feeling his twin’s warm and familiar presence at his side as he drifted away into sleep.

But that wasn’t going to happen, so he just let himself be drawn out of the hallway and though the shattered window – his boots crunching heavily against the glass.

He walked like that for some time. It was hard to tell, when everything looked the same. He didn’t bother looking back. He didn’t bother doing anything really.

Then things started changing. The floor grew rougher. Thin, pale flowers began to appear, then grass, then a colorless stone path leading up to a pallid gazebo. Flowering vines trailed up the structure, their achromatic blooms wasted upon the backdrop of white. It looked almost life like, but for the fact that everything had been bleached of color.

Including what appeared to be a large, white grand piano sitting at the gazebo’s center. As Dipper grew closer the humming tune changed from what sounded like a distant voice to the low tones of a piano, sounding out a disjointed and uneven melody. He wished he could have said he was surprised at the sight of the keys as they slowly moved by themselves, no virtuoso in sight.

But he wasn’t.

And he wished he could say he hadn’t begin to hum along to the tune, moving closer to the instrument despite his better judgement.

He wished he could understand why on earth the sight of this place made his empty heart palpitate. He wished he could just turn away and accept his fate.

Dipper Pines wished a lot of things.

His fingers hit the keys, all other sounds falling into silence as his single note wrung out like a crack of thunder. The entire universe seemed to pause, and then the world was rapidly being filled with brilliant color. The ashen white faded away to reveal everything Dipper had so missed during his time in space.

Suddenly, everything was made vivid. The kaleidoscope of nature unfolded around him in a burst of prismatic hues that utterly stole the brunette’s breath away. It was different than before – unlike the hallway with its lush scarlet’s and brazen gold.

No, these were the colors of Dipper’s home.

Suddenly he was met with sunlight a cerulean sky reminiscent of a robin’s egg or the sound of silver bells or the cool touch of condensation against a glass on a hot day. Grass sprung up from the earth in emerald tresses, spotted with those same white flowers with their heliocentric centers that blazed out against white petals as they wavered in a gentle breeze.

Beautiful. Earthen. So real it made Dipper want to forget the truth. Forget all that had lead him here.

Because he knew, deep down, that all of this was a lie.

A sublimely treacherous and alluring lie.

A butterfly fluttered past his helmet, gossamer wings a pale translucent blue that shimmered in the afternoon light. He watched it’s every movement, each perfect beat of those delicate wings as it rose higher and higher before disappearing against the horizon.

“It looks so real.” He breathed, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of the sun’s rays as they warmed his skin.

There came a soft rustling and the sound of footsteps, and Dipper turned sleepily towards the noise, his head lolling lazily to the left just in time to catch a flash of gold amidst the wavering grass. It was that same illusory figure as before, tall, thin, with that same crop of fair curls sprouting in wild coils. His back was turned to Dipper, once again hiding his face.

Once again that feeling of longing washed over him, tinged with a sort of sadness he couldn’t quite place a name to. He felt like crying. He felt like dying.

He felt like he wasn’t really there at all.

“Who are you?” the brunette whispered, though he didn’t really expect an answer. He wasn’t even really sure why he so desperately wanted to know.

But he did. Desperately. Painfully.

He had to know.

He stumbled towards the figure, his legs feeling heavy and leaden against the soft earth.

“I…know you.” He continued, reaching towards the figure, hand outstretched.

“I know…”

His hand passed directly through it.

The image faltered, fading out at the edges before returning to focus. The figure turned towards Dipper, just like it had when he’d first seen it outside that window. He saw the sharp corners of its jaw, the playful lilt of a grin, the flash of blue eyes, and just like that the image vanished.

Once again the air was filled with an achingly familiar melody, the melancholic notes of the piano laying themselves out in an almost demure manner. Dipper spun towards the gazebo, his vision blocked off by an expanse of yellow with a single yellow eye.

H careened backwards, a loud yelp escaping his lips as he desperately reached for a weapon. His fingertips scrabbled over the metal of his gun before he closed his grip around the object and pulled it from its holster to point it at the masked man.

“Stay back!” He shouted. The figure seemed unperturbed, a passing breeze lifting at the edges of its clothing as it slowly lifted hand to point at Dipper before rotating it to face its palm upward.

“Why are you doing this?” Dipper asked the figure, voice quivering. The other did not respond, simply taking a step forward.

“Please, I just want to go home.” He continued. The figure drew closer.

“Please, just let me go.”

The masked man stopped two footsteps from Dipper, hand still outstretched.

“Please…” He whispered as that same hand rose to grip the bottom of his helmet and pulled.

The headpiece groaned before clicking open, leaving Dipper at a burst of warm, moist air that smelled of flowers and sunshine and warmth and damp. He sucked in a long, deep breath, then another, and another.

He could breathe.

The helmet fell to the ground with a thud, leaving Dipper to gaze at the figure in a mixture of curiosity, wonder, and fear.

The figure tilted its head thoughtfully, before taking Dipper’s chin in its hand and drawing him closer until it had one arm around the brunette’s waist and the shorter man was pulled flush against its chest.

He couldn’t move – couldn’t pull away. He didn’t want to. His mind was all at once a whirl with thoughts and completely empty. He was filled by this foreign touch, by the feeling that it was, in fact, not foreign at all.

“I… I…” he stuttered, his tongue tied with worse and feelings that he couldn’t express because they weren’t quite his own. The grip around his him loosened, caressing his neck before closing round his jugular and tightening.

His breath caught painfully in his lungs, his body burning from the lack of air. He tore at those hands in an attempt to rip them away. A feeling of deja vu had his mind racing to maintain its grip with reality as he was suddenly consumed with thoughts of: not again, please, not again.

The edges of his vision began to waver before fading to black, his limbs slackening and his entire being growing limp. The last thing he saw was that eye moving closer, too close, how could this be happening?

_Not again._

**************************

_There is something beautiful in the unknown. In the unimaginable._

_In gazing up at the night sky, what does one see?_

_That vast void which unfurls tentatively just beyond the horizon, extending infinitely and marked with stars. There are many worlds and therefor many skies, but each are connected, each are bound in an endless seam of existence which spans out across space and time. An infinite number of dimensions, an infinite number of possibilities. I cannot help but wonder if, beneath one of those skies, another me lives. I can’t help but wonder if they see the same sky as I do, the same emptiness, and the same glow from the same stars burning at distances beyond comprehension…_

“Dipper!” A familiar voice broke him from his thoughts, and Dipper sighed, setting down his pen and leaning back in his chair.

“What now, Mable.” He asked, and his sister pouted.

“Ah, someone’s in a grumpy mood. Well, I guess that means you won’t want to hear the good news.” His twin responded, raising an eyebrow mockingly before bursting out laughing as her brother leaned to far back and almost went crashing head first into the floor.

“Good news?” Dipper asked, turning to his giggling twin.

“Yes. A certain blonde has come by to see you.” She said, and Dipper shot out of his seat.

“Bill is here?” He demanded, and his sister nodded, moving towards the door.

“He’s out in the gardens!” she called over her shoulder with a knowing smirk before leaving her brother to absorb her words before quickly running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame the unruly auburn locks and heading for the door.

He entered the lavish hallways of his family home, with their richly pained walls and sumptuous gold accents. It was the kind of home that belonged to the family of a famous scientist like Dipper’s great uncle – much different from the small shack the family had lived in before. He missed those times, they seemed so far away when he was surrounded by such access.

But Dipper couldn’t complain, because it was due to his family’s change in status that he had met the love of his life.

He passed one of the windows, pausing at the sight of a dark figure among the hedges. Somewhat on the tall side with the thin body of someone who had never participated in physical labor all their lives. Olive toned skin spattered with honeyed freckles, and an utter disarray of flaxen curls which glinted like precious metal in the mid afternoon sun. As if sensing his gaze the figure turned, face alight with a familiar smile that had Dipper’s heart utterly aching. He felt his own grin begin to form as he met those stunning ultramarine hues, lifting his hand to give a small wave. Bill returned the gesture by lifting his hat from his head and sweeping into a low bow before straightening and blowing Dipper a kiss that had the boy’s heart all aflutter. He turned from the window, his desire to see his beloved renewed as he headed down the stairway. At the bottom he stopped to admire the vase of poppy blossoms his sister had picked from outside. The heady red blooms were positioned in front of a portrait of Dipper she had painted herself less than a year ago, and she insisted on picking fresh flowers every week to accompany her work of art - though he found it odd that she’d chosen poppies this time. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen the luscious blooms.

Smiling softly to himself, Dipper passed the portrait and continued onward past the many empty rooms of the house, including the massive grand ballroom they had only used once before. The memory of that time made his chest flutter as he thought back to his first meeting with the man who was now his fiancée.

Bill Cipher, one of the greatest scientists of the modern age. Many admired the man from afar, and most thought him to be mad. Dipper had, undoubtedly, been one of them at one point. But no longer. In another few months the two were to be married after all.

He stepped into the warm afternoon sunlight, inhaling a deep breath of fresh air that smelt heavily of flowers and early autumn. When he didn’t see Bill, he immediately began to move deeper into the gardens, his feet crunching gravel underfoot.

Slowly the scenery began to change from the carefully trimmed hedges and various bushes into the more natural growth of the family’s land. Gravel became soft dirt, the path changing into a set of sandstone stepping stones parting through the tall wavering grasses and wildflowers. And there, at the end of the path, was a massive gazebo which was home to a large white grand piano.

Sure enough, sitting at the piano’s front with his hands flitting across the keys was Bill, bobbing his head and humming softly along with the tune. Dipper snorted, rolling his eyes at how utterly like his lover it was to have their first meeting after months be at the very place the other man had proposed.

The blonde was a sucker for drama, after all.

He ran his fingers through the grass as he made his way towards Bill, wrapping his arms around the other man’s shoulders and pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek that had the blonde stopping in his tracks. Bill wasted no time in turning his face to catch Dipper’s lips in his own, raising his right hand from the keyboard to caress Dipper’s cheek as he pulled the other deeper into their kiss.

After a while they finally pulled apart, breathing heavily.

“Well hello…” Bill broke into one of his signature grins, eyes heavy with landing as they flitted over his partner.

“Right back at you, you damned asshole.” Dipper responded, though his words were breathy and lacked any sort of anger. He moved to sit beside the blonde, pressing close to the other man’s side and making a pleased hum as he felt Bill’s arm wrap around his shoulders and pull him even closer.

“I missed you.” Bill murmured, pressing fleeting kisses into Dipper’s scalp as the brunette chuckled.

“And whose fault is that? You are the one who had to leave for work.” The brunette huffed, nuzzling into his partner’s shoulder. Bill smelt of lemongrass and mint, and the spicy aroma wafted over him in a way that made him feel distinctly at home. Meanwhile Bill’s fingers had taken to tracing small circles just below Dipper’s jawline, tickling the sensitive flesh of his throat as they lightly fluttered over the pale flesh.

“I know, and I promise it won’t happen again.” Bill pressed his lips against Dipper’s temple. “I swear I’ll never leave you again.”

They sat like that, just holding each other and basking in the aureate glow of the early autumn sun, before Dipper finally pulled away.

“Well, why don’t we head inside? We have a lot to talk about.” He pushed to his feet, lazily stretching his arms above his head before turning his russet gaze to the blonde.

“You’ll have to tell me all about that thing you’ve been working on – that inter-dimensional transporter.” Bill followed his example, rolling his head and releasing a tired yawn as he caught Dipper’s hand in his.

“I will, but let’s save that discussion for some other day. There are many other things I’d like to ‘discuss’ first.” He kissed the back of the brunette’s hand, maintaining eye contact with that doe-eyed gaze - making the boy blush furiously and quickly turn away.

“A,alright.” Dipper stuttered out, and he could practically feel the smile on the other man’s lips as he tugged him back towards the mansion. He barely made it more than a couple steps, however, when his eyes caught sight of a pale white bloom among the various other flowers.

His heart slowed, his entire body going numb as he moved to touch the bloom. Suddenly his mind was filled with the image of similar blossoms, of shouting voices and words that weren’t meant to be spoken but just kept pouring out. He could feel the sudden sting of his hand, his mouth opening and closing and oh god he didn’t mean it. He didn’t. He could never, he would never…

He turned away from that shocked expression, storming down the steps before the anger burning within his chest could fade away and then there was something soft tugging at him, pulling at him, cutting him off…

“Pine tree?” Dipper jolted as a warm hand was placed upon his shoulder. He almost wanted to pull away, but the familiarity of the nickname was like a cool balm against the swelling fear in his chest. “Is everything alright?” Bill asked, kneeling down to Dipper’s level and searching the brunette’s gaze.

“I, I’m fine.” He said, and he was.

Really.

“Just a headache.” Bill seemed contented with the answer and hummed, plucking the bloom from Dipper’s fingertips and pressing it to his lips before tucking it behind Dipper’s ear - his hand lingering against his partner’s cheek.

“You are beautiful, you know that?” Bill asked, and then he was lurching forward and sending them both backward into the dirt and the grass and the rainbow of miscellaneous blooms.

“What the hell Bill?” Dipper demanded, but any further complaint was cut off by another passionate kiss.

“B, Bill…” He breathed as the other man pulled back, breaking off in a moan as the blonde moved to nip at his neck, switching between suckling and biting and trailing kisses so gentle they took Dipper’s breath away.

“I love you.” Bill chanted to Dipper’s rising keens, the sound of his voice mixing with the wind. “I love you.”

“Don’t leave me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, now just go listen to Breezeblocks by alt-J and sink in the confusion and feels.  
> I'm sorry this is terrible(and currently unedited, but i will try to fix that tomorrow). I don't even know where any of this came from. I really just wanted to practice setting tone and this is what came from it. If you have any questions or just wanna chat, I am nekoextraordinaire on tumblr!  
> Thanks for reading!


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